ABSTRACT
Since Vietnam has only been unified for a very brief period since World War II, a discussion of statistical collection in Vietnam must take into account the statistical systems of South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam war. The greatest volume of statistics are available for South Vietnam. The North, under the communists, was relatively secretive, and little information was released to the West. It is also likely that the North, with less access to foreign aid, produced far less statistical data than the South, which counted on substantial aid from U.S./A.I.D. for the development of primary statistical collection in the rural areas. Since 1975, Vietnam has also been rather slow in releasing data for public consumption. Data that have been released have tended to be in the form of percentage increments over preceding years. Data from divergent sources have tended to contradict one another, but this is to be expected in a country that must deal with the massive task of economic, social, and political reorganization that Vietnam currently faces.
